


What’s in your head

by Servena



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Missing Scene, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-02-02 11:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12726012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servena/pseuds/Servena
Summary: “Nancy, wake up. It’s just a dream, you’ve got to wake up.” [Missing Scene of Episode 1x06]





	What’s in your head

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sommerchallenge 2017.

He wakes up in the middle of the night because someone is screaming. As he comes to his senses, he’s already sitting upright in the bed, breathing heavily, fumbling for the revolver under the pillow. He grabs it with both hands, his gaze darting across the room that is still illuminated by the ceiling lamp they left on. But it’s empty, he can’t see anything but the furniture, Nancy’s things and the futon he laid out the evening before that he didn’t sleep in. The light is not flickering but burning steadily.

Only then does he realize that the whimpering sounds are coming from right next to him. Nancy is still asleep, but she is moving anxiously under the sheets, caught in the throes of a nightmare. She must have turned around in the night and is now facing him, so he can see her scared expression and the way her eyes are screwed shut.

He puts the gun down, hands shaking, willing his racing heartbeat to slow down. “Nancy”, he whispers. The only reaction is another frightened whimper. He hesitantly touches her shoulder. “Nancy”, he says, louder this time. “Nancy, wake up. It’s just a dream, you’ve got to wake up.” Except it wasn’t just a dream, they both saw it, the deer, what happened to it, the tree, the thing - he takes a deep breath to snap himself out of it and starts to shake her. Suddenly she bolts upright, banging their foreheads together so hard he winces. Her eyes are widen open and she’s gasping for breath.

“Nancy, Nancy”, he says hurriedly as she’s looking around, the panic clearly visible on her face, mirroring the way he must have looked like when he woke up. “It’s okay, it was just a dream, it’s not here.” A distant part of his brain notes that he’s still touching her, his hands resting on both of her shoulders, and that he’s never been this close to another girl before, but the shoves the thought away, he doesn’t have time for this now. “You’re safe, we’re safe. It was just a dream.”

Slowly she calms down. She turns her gaze to him, eyes still impossibly wide. “I dreamt…I dreamt…”, she starts, but she can’t seem to say it. Then she suddenly leans forward and presses her face against his shoulder. He awkwardly puts his arms around her as he feels hot tears soaking through his shirt, her body shuddering silently.

They sit like this for a while, until the shuddering stops and her breathing becomes calmer. Then she sits back up and uses the edge of the sheet to wipe the tears off her face.

“Okay?” he asks hesitantly.

She nods slowly. Then she whispers: “How late is it?”

He casts a look at his wrist watch that he didn’t even bother to take off. “Not even four yet. Do you want to go back to sleep?”

“Yeah. I think so, yeah.” He expects her to turn around again, but instead she settles with her face towards him, so close that he can feel her breath on his face. “Thank you”, she whispers. She smiles, a small smile, but it’s there.

“No problem”, he whispers back.

He stays awake until he can hear her breathing even out.


End file.
